What is Cambridge like?

Question

I'll be studying there for 4 weeks starting in April, and I'm very curious about it. What places should I go to, where should I shop and eat, and how do I go to London from there?

Answer 1

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker

Cambridge consists of 40 000 bicycles with some beautiful buildings having convenient railings to lock them to three abreast, and has a lovely river with flat-bottomed boats called punts for escaping from the bicycle-strewn paths and roads that a thousand cars are trying to struggle through and a thousand mothers are trying to get prams and pushchairs past while students and shoppers hog the pavements in easy and nonchalent innocence of noticing or minding that Cambridge may be at times a little busy, on the main thoroughfares at least.
It is a city in which you can easily dream away an entire day in seeing the sights and lazing by the River Cam, or in the company of a convivial male or female acquaintance, pole along the river in a punt and simply forget about lectures and books.
http://www.lindsayfincher.com/gallery/d/… . . .
http://edsphotoblog.com/wp-content/photo… . . .
http://img.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2008/02… . . . . .
The traditional hat for boating is the Luton Boater, made in Luton in the neighbouring county of Bedfordshire to the south west, and having a black, white, or coloured band appropriate for your college or from personal choice.
http://www.snoxell.com/my-boater/ . . . .
The boater is also worn at Windsor and by the punting community of Oxford and is de rigeur at Henley for the annual regatta on the Thames. .
http://i.telegraph.co.uk/telegraph/multi… . . . .
In April the weather might still be cool or chilly if there is a wind, and the thousands of daffodils amongst the trees and gardens by the river known as the Backs, (which are really the back gardens of the colleges and are very pleasant indeed), might still be in bloom if you're lucky but a month earlier is much better.
The Backs and other city sights are on here. with descriptions and photographs.
http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=h… . . . . .

There is a frequent train service direct to London which takes about an hour, and National Express coaches, which take a couple of hours but are cheaper.
The X5 bus runs to Oxford every thirty minutes through the day and hourly in the evenings, through Bedford and Milton Keynes and the lovely Vale of Aylesbury, through Thame and into Oxford.
There are about 220 pubs and endless cafes and restuarants to suit rich and poor, but mostly middling rich, and hungry anyway.
Cambridge is close enough to the coast to feel the refreshing air blowing in off the North Sea when the wind is easterly, and the sea air stimulates the appetite. There are some budget eateries, and several of the pubs do good value lunches and evening meals.
Thirst is mainly an evening affliction brought on by hours of lectures through the day and is well catered for in the city centre but more cheaply so further away from it, and is offered as a lame (?) excuse for the overcrowding of the hundred choicest watering holes of the city and the considerable clientele of the others.
The real reason is socialising. Cambridge is very sociable.
There are hundreds of clubs and interest groups, good theatres, and reasonable transport to surrounding attractions like the Cathedral at Ely and the historic Roman town of Colchester, and of course to the attractive towns and villages and long sandy beaches of the east coast, where cold breezes blow in from the North Sea.
To the north of Cambridge is Boston and it's quant Old Town, where the Pilgrim Fathers left from on their epic and historic journey to the New World of America when they were finally free of the prison they had endured for months.
Boston in Massachusetts is named from Boston in Lincolnshire.
Heffers of Cambridge is one of the world's leading bookshops, and is an old family business with a high reputaion amongst artists and writers, Academia, and the general public.
The hard thing about Cambridge is studying.
It's just so pleasant all over.
Have a good time, which is easy to do in beautiful Cambridge.

Asker's Rating:

Asker's Comment:

thank you both, it seems like it's a great place :)

Answer 2

It's lovely, very pretty but touristy. Lots of university students obviously! You can get to London on the train. It's a while since I have been there so not sure about eating and shopping but there will certainly be plenty for you to chose from. Have fun!